Means



(-NoModel.)

C. F. NEWTON & W. S. WING.

MEANS FOR BLOCKING AND GUARDING RAILS, SWITCHES, 8w.

No. 321,132. Patented June 30,1885.

moan/ UNTTED STATES PATENT @EETQE.

COLLINS F. NEWVTON AND WILLIAM S. \VING, OF OMAHA, NEBRASKA.

MEANS FOR BLOCKING AND GUARDING RAILS, SWITCHES, &c.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent. No. 321,132, dated June 30, 1885.

Application tiled March 22, 1985. (No modeh) To (Ml whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, CoLLINs F. N nwroiv and WILLIAM S. WING, citizens of the United States, residing at Omaha, in the county of Douglas and State of Nebraska, have invented and produced a new and original Device for Blocking and Guarding Railway-Frogs,Guard- Rails, and Switches, the object of said invention being to guard and fill up the spaces forming the angles of the frogs, guard-rails, and switches, by inserting a self-adjusting and pert'ectly-fittii'ig guard, which will prevent and render it absolutely impossible for railway einploys to catch their feet in the angles of frogs, guard-rails. and switches, and thereby prevent loss of life from this cause.

Our invention relates to a self-adjusting and perfectly-fitting guard for blocking railway-frogs, guard-rails, and switches, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, formiug part thereof.

The design consists of a piece of sheet-iron or other metal, the most convenient size being twenty by thirty-four inches. This is corrugated by the usual and ordinary method of corrugating metals, having corrugations, according to the size of space to be filled, with spaces or openings between of about threequarters of an inch, more or less. The de sign being of uniform dimensions, one end is compressed into the angle of the frog, guardrail, or switch, and then driven into place, or as far as it can be driven. The action of thus driving it to place, the design being corrugated, causes it to adjust itself to the position of the rail, and the con'ipression produced by the angle of the rails being sufficient to hold the design in place. It may, however. be spiked as a further security. When thus driven into place, the space between the rails composing the frog, guard-rails, or switch is completely and securely filled and the space perfectly and securely blocked.

Figure 1 in the accompanying drawings represents an ordinary railway-frog with the device applied, showing the points guarded at A and B. Fig. 2 represents an ordinary guardrail with the device applied, showing the points guarded at B and B. Fig. 3 represents a sectional view of the heel of a frog and the device as applied. Fig. 4 represents a sectional view of the point and throat of a frog with the device in position at B. Fig. 5 represents a sectional view of the device as used in frogs at the heel end as shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 6 represents ascctional and perspective view of the device as used in switches, guardrails, and frogs at the point and throat, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

There is a slight difference in the construction of the device as applied to the two ends of the frog, in this: Where the device is to be used in the angle of the heel of the frog the middle corrugations are made higher than the outer ones, as shown in Fig. 5. so that u hen driven to place the space in the angle of the frog is filled nearly even with the top of the rail, as shown in Fig 3. When the device is to be applied to the point or throat of a frog, the corrugations are made of uniform height, so that when driven to place the space is filled to within about an inch and a quarter from the top of the rail, as shown in Fig. at at B. The device is thus made lower when applied to this end of the frog in order that it may not be interfered with by the flanges of the car-wheelsin passing over it.

Hcretofore the ordinary method of blocking frogs, guard-rails, and switches was to shape and tit a piece of wood into the angle. By our device a much more perfect method is obtained, inasmuch as the angle is more perfectly filled, owing to the adjustability of the device being driven to place.

\Vhat we claim as our invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

A corrugated iron or other corrugated metal device, as shown herein, to be used for bloclzing and guarding railway-frogs, guard-rails, and switches, as described.

0. F. NEWVTON. W. S. XVING. WVitnesses:

GEO. K. BLACK,

T. R. Vl NG. 

